Category: Viral

Retribution has been wreaking havoc on WWE Raw (and a couple of times on Smackdown) for a while now, but we still don’t know anything about them. They’ve started cutting promos, but they’re still wearing those black masks with their all-black outfits, and they haven’t had an actual match. Retribution segments tend to involve a bunch of extras, making it hard to tell how big the group is supposed to be. Recently, however, five members have begun to emerge as the core of the group. Reports have come out regarding who those five are, and the names do make some sense.

According to Post Wrestling, the five central members of Retribution are the ones who appeared in the promo segment on Raw this week. If you look at that video, it’s pretty easy to recognize them.

On the left is Shane Thorne, once a member of TM61 (aka The Mighty) with his since-released partner Nick Miller. In back of the group is Dio Maddin, who was part of the Raw announce team for a few months last fall, before returning to NXT to get back in the ring. In front of Dio is Mercedes Martinez, indie vet and former Mae Young Classic competitor who just got booted from the Robert Stone Brand after losing a cage match to Rhea Ripley. Next to her is Mia Yim, who has been working as hard as anybody in NXT for the past few years, without ever being treated like a serious title contender. And finally, on the right is Dominik Dijakovic, former best frenemy of Keith Lee and noted Very Large Man. Dijakovic and Martinez were the two who spoke in the segment.

The promo started out being sort of broadly about letting go of the WWE dream and believing that the company is holding you back, but then it gets kind of abstract right at the end when Dominik starts talking about enjoying oblivion or whatever. But the main point is clearly that they don’t like WWE, and therefore don’t like anybody who sides with WWE, which apparently includes all the wrestlers who aren’t wearing black masks and hoodies. It’s really pretty typical heel faction stuff, with the lightest antifa gloss painted over it.

A lot of people thought Retribution would be made up of wrestlers who WWE laid off back in April. That would make narrative sense, although it might feel a little gross, and at the end of the day I just don’t know that anybody really wants a faction made up of people who got laid off in April and haven’t already signed with Impact or AEW. When people were fantasy booking that version of Retribution, I’m pretty sure they were picturing Rusev pulling one of those masks off, and it definitely wouldn’t have revealed bleach blond hair and Mickey Mouse couture.

So now of course the big question is, does this go anywhere? Although a lot of their segments have been lackluster up to now, I don’t think it would be impossible to build them up as a credible threat, especially with five performers so talented doing the in-ring work that surely has to come eventually. Still, the next thing that needs to happen right now is their unmasking. The Wrestling Observer has reported that WWE has considered keeping them masked for months to come, which was already a terrible idea, and would be a disaster now that their names have leaked out.

It’s time for WWE to decide what they ultimately want Retribution to be, and work on making them that. The one thing they can’t be anymore is a mystery.

Television was one industry that quickly learned to adapt to the still raging pandemic, but so far there hasn’t too many of one kind of program: awards shows. Though the BET Awards went off largely without a hitch in late August, the Emmys are an affair with even more moving parts. But instead of being a pre-recorded quarantine program, like the Parks and Recreation virtual reunion, they’re going to do it almost entirely live. If that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, well, those behind it agree.

“Things are going to go wrong,” Ian Stewart, one of the show’s producers, told journalists, as per The Wrap. “It’s never been done before… so things aren’t going to work perfectly all the time, and I think that’s part of the endearment of it. We’ve got to try. We’re going to try our best.”

So what exactly is the game plan? It involves what are essentially 130 care packages being sent to the many participants, from nominees to hosts. Inside is camera equipment: cameras, monitors, ring lights, and computers, mailed out to 20 cities in 10 countries. They’ll be at the mercy of not only talent, who will have to learn how to work equipment, but with internet connections, plus the fires that have consumed California of late, which could affect nearby communications towers.

“It’s sort of like trying to watch 130 sports matches at the same time. You have so many things coming in and so many things that can stop coming in,” Stewart said. “These are not places that are wired to do a sports match, they’re wired to be where you have your dinner.”

One person inspiring confidence? The show’s seasoned host, Jimmy Kimmel. “The good thing is,” Stewart said, “We’ve got Jimmy Kimmel, who loves live TV and the chaos of live TV. I think he’s actually hoping things do go wrong, to tell you the truth.”

Whether this turns out to have a hiccup here and there or if it’s a non-stop train wreck that turns off viewers to pandemic awards shows altogether remains to be seen. But Stewart and Hudlin decided to being bold was better than being safe.

“We decided let’s not do the easy route here, the sanitized route here, and do lots of prerecorded things and put them all together, bolt them back to back and put out something that’s sort of generic,” Stewart said. “A stumbling block can be a stepping stone depending how you use it. This is a time to be a bit loose and have some fun… Anything that we can do live, we will do live.”

According to Variety, the epic list of talent booked for the show include [deep breath]: Laverne Cox, Sterling K. Brown, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Count von Count, Jason Bateman, Morgan Freeman, Ilana Glazer, Abbi Jacobson, D-Nice, Randall Park, RuPaul, Patrick Stewart and Jason Sudeikis. There will also be appearances from Anthony Anderson, America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Gabrielle Union, J.J. Watt, Lena Waithe and Oprah Winfrey. Hopefully everyone reads the equipment instructions before things start Sunday night.

The 20202 Emmy Awards will air on Sunday, September 20 at 8pm on ABC.

(Via The Wrap and Variety)

On a day where Sony finally revealed the release date and price of the PlayStation 5, they kicked off the event with a trailer of a familiar friend — Final Fantasy.

Square Enix released a five-minute trailer with a smattering of callbacks to the series such as chocobos and familiar characters like Shiva. Some more traditional RPG callbacks were inserted as it appears a few characters are related and only distinguishable by their facial markings.

Judging from a few scenes of combat, the sixteenth edition of Final Fantasy is going with more of an action RPG model similar to what gamers saw in the Final Fantasy VII remake that dropped earlier this year, rather than the traditional JRPG style that the franchise is traditionally known for.

Final Fantasy being an “exclusive” property for Sony is nothing new as Final Fantasies 7 through 13 all were initially released on PlayStation consoles and then later ported to other platforms. What may make this a tad more confusing for gamers is that it’s not known yet whether this is a single player adventure or the successor to the vastly successful MMORPG Final Fantasy 14.

There wasn’t a release date attached to the trailer, but it’s safe to assume that the game won’t be released until the Holiday 2021 window at the earliest. Until we get some new information, it might be for the best to get a few more viewings of the trailer on a loop.

The wildfires that have ravaged the west coast over the past two months have burned millions of acres, claimed over 30 lives, and forced thousands to live in evacuation shelters.

The fires have also caused unimaginable damage to the area’s wildlife.

Critical populations of endangered species and native habitats may take years to recover.

“Some of these places we set aside may be fundamentally impacted by climate change and may not be able to come back,” Amy Windrope, deputy director of Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife,” said according to The New York Times. “That’s just a reality.”

Out of all the death and destruction comes a wonderful story out of Jamul, California, outside of San Diego.

Over twenty years ago, Patty Hyslop started the Hyslop Horse Haven to care for abused and neglected horses. Hyslop sufferers from multiple sclerosis and, at one point, was paralyzed, but she believes her love for horses has helped her condition improve.

The sanctuary also provides horseback riding lessons for children.

On September 5, as the Valley Fire raged through the area, forcing Hyslop to evacuate her ranch, leaving the horses behind.

“It was one of the scariest things that we’ve ever been through,” Hyslop told FOX 5.

“When I saw those hundred-foot flames coming at us … I (thought I) was going to come back the next day to dead horses or severely burnt horses. And if they had died, I think I would’ve died with them. My heart would have just broken,” she continued.

via GoFundMe

After the fire made its way through the area, Hyslop returned to her horse haven fearing the worst. But she was shocked to find that all 20 of her horses survived.

Hyslop belives the animals were saved by “horse angels.”

Unfortunately, the stable didn’t have such luck. The entire sanctuary was reduced to ash and debris. Eight sheds with thousands of dollars worth of medications, tack, and supplies were brunt to the ground. As was Hyslop’s golf cart and trailers for the sanctuary’s volunteers.

via Fox 5 San Diego

“My shed alone, there was probably $10,000 worth of tack and medications feed everything inside and it’s just all gone,” said Hope Gilces, Hyslop’s niece.

The horses have been transferred to temporary facilities while Hyslop and her team work to get the sanctuary back into order. Even though her sanctuary has suffered a massive setback, she still vows to rescue even more horses, including those impacted by the blaze.

A GoFundMe campaign has been established to help rebuild the sanctuary.

“The ranch is going to be in need of feed, medicine, care equipment, and all items needed for riding lessons (saddles, blankets, tack, etc),” the campaign reads. “They will need to rebuild storage units and replace machinery that didn’t survive the fire.”

Let’s hope Hyslop’s horse angels come through again and help her get the funding she needs to continue her important work.

While Xbox was first to make an official announcement on the release date and pricing for its next-generation consoles — the Series X and smaller, cheaper digital-only Series S — which left gamers turning to PlayStation for details on the PS5.

On Wednesday, Sony hosted a PlayStation reveal event where they debuted some new games, like the new Harry Potter open-world RPG Hogwarts Legacy, a first-look at Final Fantasy XVI, and extended gameplay from Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. They also, finally, offered pricing and release details for the two PS5s.

The consoles will come out on November 12 in the United States (and other major international markets like Japan, Canada, and Mexico) and the main console will cost $499.99, while the digital only edition will cost $399.99.

That puts the PS5 at the same price point as the Xbox Series X, while the digital only edition is $100 more than the digital only Series S, it isn’t a smaller console like Xbox and should have similar storage capacity, just without the Blu-Ray disc drive. That the PS5 costs the same as the Xbox Series X comes as a bit of a surprise, as there was speculation it could cost more, but it will certainly make for some difficult decisions for those trying to decide between the two next-generation consoles as they both will run right on $499 before tax.

Sony announced a follow-up to its acclaimed Marvel’s Spider-Man game earlier this year, revealing that Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will come out sometime later this year for PlayStation consoles. It’s a highly-anticipated release, one that centers on one of Peter Parker’s pals from the first game, and on Wednesday afternoon, we got a glimpse into what the game will look like.

Sony held a major PlayStation 5 reveal event on Wednesday, and early on, we saw a seven and a half minute trailer, one which shows a cut scene in which Miles walks around his environment, and after a brief interjection from Insomniac Games creative director Brian Horton, showed Miles in combat against Roxxon.

Beyond the look at how the game will play, it was announced that the game will come out sometime during the holiday season of 2020, which would put its release date right around the same time as the rumored release date for the new console. Plenty of details are still to be determined — it’s unclear if Spider-Man will appear in the game in any capacity, we still don’t know an exact date, and the full plot details remain up in the air — but based on the bits that we know, it looks like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales has what it takes to be a worthy success to the original game.

Queen raps wild man Action Bronson is back with the new song “Mongolia” from his upcoming album, Only For Dolphins. Over a loop of Middle Eastern strings and percussion, Bronson and guest rappers Hologram and Mayhem Lauren link together streams of abstract raps, flexing everything from their tattoos to their taste in food. The multisyllabic raps fall into place like dominoes as the three rappers show off their linguistic skills over the hypnotic beat, giving fans a taste of what they can expect when the new album drops on September 25.

Bronson kicked off the buzz for Dolphins in July with the video for “Latin Grammys,” emulating a strong man competition with retro graphics resembling a mid-90s sports show. He announced the new album earlier this month with “Golden Eye,” flexing over a reggae sample and sharing the 12-song tracklist and hand-painted cover art.

Only For Dolphins will be the first full-length from Bronson since going independent with 2018’s White Bronco, but he made sure to keep fans fed in 2019 with the Lamb Over Rice EP produced by The Alchemist. The new full-length will also be available as a limited edition solid yellow vinyl from UK-based Record Store.

Listen to Action Bronson’s “Mongolia” featuring Hologram and Mayhem Lauren above.

Only For Dolphins is due 9/25. Pre-save it here.

The PlayStation 5 Showcase on Wednesday offered gameplay looks at a variety of upcoming games for the PS5, including a detailed trailer for Spiderman Miles Morales and the new Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, as well as some first looks at upcoming games like Final Fantasy XVI.

Among those new games announced during the PS5 showcase was Hogwarts Legacy a new open-world RPG based in the Harry Potter world that will allow you to be a student at Hogwarts in the 1800s, but eventually expand to a much larger world. The plot of the game, as described by the Hogwarts Legacy website, offers some insight into what you’ll go through and be tasked with in the game.

Experience Hogwarts in the 1800s. Your character is a student who holds the key to an ancient secret that threatens to tear the wizarding world apart. You have received a late acceptance to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and soon discover that you are no ordinary student: you possess an unusual ability to perceive and master Ancient Magic. Only you can decide if you will protect this secret for the good of all, or yield to the temptation of more sinister magic.

While it debuted at the PS5 showcase, it is not a PlayStation exclusive and will be available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, with a release date sometime in 2021.

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

The Devil All The Time (Netflix film) — Robert Pattinson portrays an unholy preacher while Sebastian Stan steps into a crooked sheriff’s shoes, and Tom Holland’s simply trying to stay out of the line of fire while evil forces surround him. It’s a battle between the corrupt and the so-called just that should provide a nice midweek viewing break. This Antonio Campos-directed story spans the period between WWII and Vietnam and co-stars Jason Clarke, Riley Keough, Bill Skarsgård, Eliza Scanlen, and Mia Wasikowska.

The 100 (CW, 8:00pm EST) — An unexpected threat’s looming over Clarke and all of her friends as they’re already reckoning with what’s happened.

Coroner (CW, 9:00pm EST) — The whole place is on lockdown with Jenny separated from the team. Meanwhile, Detective McAvoy’s searching for a newly released killer.

Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Drew Barrymore

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon — Sharon Stone, Shaquille O’Neal, Kylie Minogue

The Late Late Show With James Corden — John David Washington, Michael McIntyre, Glass Animals

In case you missed these offerings last week:

Unpregnant (HBO Max film) — A 17-year-old Type A student, Veronica (Haley Lu Richardson), deals with a never-taken-lightly decision by taking a 1000-mile road trip with her former BFF, Bailey (Barbie Ferreira), and it’s a wild ride that neither of them suspected was afoot. The value of renewed friendships with a dash of both Thelma And Louise and Fast And Furious make this an unexpectedly funny film with costars including Alex MacNicoll, Breckin Meyer, and Giancarlo Esposito, and Betty Who.

Woke (Hulu series) — This show is the comedy series that Lamorne Morris (and the rest of us) deserves with a little bit of everything. It’s surreal, it’s funny, it’s serious, it’s got talking toast and trashcans, and it’s in good hands with director Maurice “Mo” Marable. The quest to “keep it light” never felt so real as Keef (based upon the life and work of artist Keith Knight) experiences a rude awakening and transformation to follow.

The Killing of Breonna Taylor (Hulu series) — The New York Times investigates the life of Bronna Taylor and her police killing (following a no-knock warrant) on March 13 while the case still unfolds.

With many schools going virtual, many daycare facilities being closed or limited, and millions of parents working from home during the pandemic, the balance working moms have always struggled to achieve has become even more challenging in 2020. Though there are more women in the workforce than ever, women still take on the lion’s share of household and childcare duties. Moms also tend to bear the mental load of keeping track of all the little details that keep family life running smoothly, from noticing when kids are outgrowing their clothing to keeping track of doctor and dentist appointments to organizing kids’ extracurricular activities.

It’s a lot. And it’s a lot more now that we’re also dealing with the daily existential dread of a global pandemic, social unrest, political upheaval, and increasingly intense natural disasters.

That’s why scientist Gretchen Goldman’s refreshingly honest photo showing where and how she conducted a CNN interview is resonating with so many.

Gretchen Goldman, PhD is the research director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, and she recently weighed in on a CNN segment about the Trump administration’s appointment of a climate change denier to NOAA. In the interview, she’s clearly speaking from home (as most experts are these days) but appears perfectly professional in her yellow collared top.

She shared a screenshot from the interview on Twitter, side-by-side with a photo of the room she was in, which is strewn with toys. Her laptop is perched on a chair on a table, and we can see what never shows in the interview—the bike shorts and sandals she’s wearing.

“Just so I’m being honest,” she wrote, including the hashtag #SciMomJourneys.

Many work-from-home moms saw themselves in Goldman’s photos—their polished, professional life sitting right next to their child-oriented home life. The home photo shouldn’t be viewed negatively—it’s just life. When you’re trying to do all the things and having to do them from home, this is what life looks like.

Commenters expressed how seeing this honesty brought home how hard moms are working right now.

Others weighed in with some practical advice:

But many just offered gratitude for making them feel better about their own unfiltered reality.

We do need to cut ourselves some slack. We need to acknowledge that what we’re pulling off is pretty darn amazing. And perhaps more importantly, while praise and accolades are great, they’re not what most working moms really need. We need to ask for and accept help, and we need people to hear us when we do.

And yes, of course, there are plenty of working dads who are in a similar boat right now. Everyone who is managing to make it through the dumpster fire of this year with their sanity in tact deserves kudos. But let’s give working moms the shout out they deserve for the million balls they’re juggling while also putting up with societal sexism and patriarchal expectations. It’s a lot, truly.